Still mourning our loss. Carolyn got up promptly at 7:45 and ran down to the front desk to ask them to call the bus company. No dice. They weren't open so the guy said he'd call at 1000. Had a grand breakfast where I swallowed 5 cups of coffee down and felt awfully proud of myself afterwards.
We saw the front desk guy who broke the bad news that no camera had been found. Grrrrr.
Purchased a 3 day pass for all the regional sites which includes public transportation for €27 (only worth it if you go to both Pompeii and Herculaneum). On our way to the train station we saw some bus employees milling about so we pleaded our case to them hoping for a miracle. No miracle happened. They called and we got the same answer. Guess we'll be buying a new camera.
Anyway, now for the fun part of the day: looking at old crap!!!!! Got to Pompeii and were blown away by the sheer size of it! Huuuuuuuge! We downloaded Rick Steve's audio guide for the site and just used it along with our map. Unbelievable that so much was preserved by a volcano! Frescoes, mosaics, lead pipes (yes they had underground plumbing 2000 years ago!) and preserved bodies!!!!! It's also crazy to see how similar pompeii was to a normal suburban city now. Roads, sidewalks, water fountains, bakeries, fast food joints (early Romans didn't cook for themselves so there were a ton of fast food stalls serving soups, stews, etc) and of course brothels. We checked out grand theaters, rich people's homes and all sorts of other super cool places. Oh and we saw some preserved bodies!!!!
SIDE NOTE: some of the funniest moments on this trip are when Carolyn realizes something isn't what she pictures (Harry potter train, boat to Luang Prabang, etc). Before we got to Pompeii I told her about all the bodies and how they were preserved by the volcano. Well I guess I didn't do a good job of explaining cause she pictured a giant field with skeleton-ash people in some sort of running pose (like running from the volcano). This is not how they look but provided a very humorous moment :)
Left Pompeii after only 4.5 hours and headed to Herculaneum. This site is much smaller but much more intimate. Pompeii has a museum-don't-touch feel to it while Herculaneum seemed like they're just happy you showed up. We saw the same types of things but the details are more interesting. Because of the way it was covered by Mt Vesuvius, organic matter was preserved in Herculaneum. This means all the wood in the houses in 79AD is still there today. Stairs, beams, furniture ... All there to see.
Luckily we caught the 7:23 train and didn't get stuck in Herculaneum for an extra 45 minutes since A) it was suddenly freezing and B) Herculaneum didn't seem like a very nice town.
Back at home base we put on our jumpers and went out to act like Italians. How did we do that you ask??? Well we went shopping, ate gelato and had some pizza!!! 1/2 off sale at the local shop, €3 on pizza and €5 on gelato. Not a bad night at all.
Came home and did some planning which is really a pain in the bottom since prices are astronomical and you can't really expect to get anything cheap unless you book in advance. So the next 10 days is all planned out which sucks because we've already changed our minds about some locations but we're stuck.
Tomorrow we're thinking of going back to the amalfi coast, maybe positano or Salerno. We'll see how we feel in the AM.
Pics:
0) Carolyn showing me what she thought the dead people of Pompeii would look like.
1) Venus of the shells fresco (I snuck this site in after 4+ hours of walking and the Mrs. was not happy)
2) Forum in Pompeii.
3) Aqueduct in Pompeii (notice mt Vesuvius in the background).
4) Bathhouse in Pompeii.
5) the happy gypsies.
6) Who wants a da pizza??? 'Fast food' shop in Herculaneum.
7) lady killed in the volcano ash of Pompeii. You could tell she had a broken arm. Crazy!!!!
8) still mourning our loss :(
9) Forum in Herculaneum.
10) Mrs Blue getting ready to make the bread!!!
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